Running

Chapter 1: Iris Locke

"Get your lazy ass to school!" she spits at me. "You only have an hour to walk there, and it's a 45-minute walk!"

My aunt refuses to drive me to school, claiming the 45-minute travel to school will burn all the "useless fat" on my bones.

"Yes, Aunt Gillian," I mutter.

"Don't mumble, you useless bitch!" she snaps, slapping me harshly on the cheek. I whimper and go through the door.

As I walk, I pull my sweatshirt even further down my skinny arms, so no one can see the many bruises and scars they possess.

I spend a good amount of the time creating scenarios as I trudge I school.

One is of my mother, father, and I. We are smiling and laughing and Aunt Gillian is not part of the picture.

Uncle Rodney and Terra are not there either.

Terra is their fifteen-year-old daughter. Not only does she know about the abuse, but she ignores it. I despise her.

Uncle Rodney, my aunt's husband, isn't so bad. He isn't really home a lot of the time, so he can't see anything she does to me.

By the time I get there, I have imagined thirteen scenarios in which I live in a happy, violence-free environment.

My grandmother takes care of me. I am eighteen, and I live by myself. I live in a children's orphanage. I am adopted by a normal couple. I am not in pain.

But I know these things will never happen.

The school is teeming with students when I walk up to the front doors.

I ignore the cat calls and whistles as I head to my locker. The boys here are convinced I am the hottest girl in school. What a laugh.

A pair of girls next to my locker whisper to themselves as I get out my books. I can't help myself....I listen.

"Ohmigosh, you know Aaron?" one of them murmurs excitedly. "I heard he's looking for a Luna! I mean, what if it's me? Do you think I could be his mate?"

Luna? Mate?

"I don't know!" the other whisper-shouts. "All I know is Aaron Camelot is one fine piece of man-meat!"

I wrinkle my nose in disgust at her words. Man-meat? Ew.

"I know! My wolf is howling every time he walks past me!"

Wolf?

I close my locker and head to my first period. English.

I can hear the shouts of wild teenagers from outside the classroom, and I inwardly groan. I am not a partying girl.

Oh, well. I walk into the room.

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Aaron's POV-

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"Dude," my beta, Will, whistles slowly as the girl walks quickly down the hallway.

"Who's that?" I ask with keen interest.

"That," he murmurs. "Is Iris Locke. Hottest girl in school, believe me."

"I do," I say, narrowing my eyes on her. She had long, dark-blonde hair and emerald eyes. She is gorgeous, no doubt the perfect girl. If only my Luna is that beautiful.

Her slim, model-like body moves fluidly as she heads to English. I silently send thanks to Heaven for letting her be in my homeroom.

It is the first day of my senior year, and I am intent on getting Iris Locke.

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